With this processor holding me back...which to get?

L

Llathos

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
151
A64 Willy 2500+ overclocked to a 3500+
1 GB DDR OCZ @ 250Mhz

I'm currently running on an x800 Pro, which obviously has been dated...badly.

So, the question is...keeping the above hardware in place, what's the maximum benefit I'd see in a card upgrade? I'd wager that going to something like an 8800 would be wasteful since I could easily end up CPU bottlenecked. So the question is, how far down the chain is the peak performance gain on a video card given the above restrictions? I've been out of the video card scene for awhile so I'm a bit lost as to which cards I should be checking out...

Anyone got any recommendations?

Also, I'd like to keep the cost in the area of $250 or less.
 
Grab something along the lines of a 7900GS or x1950pro which should be perfect :)
 
Not worth it to extend the card further into the budget? Another $50 for a GT over a GS perhaps? Maybe the 7950GT?


...or is it just not worth it?
 
Llathos said:
Not worth it to extend the card further into the budget? Another $50 for a GT over a GS perhaps? Maybe the 7950GT?


...or is it just not worth it?
Click to expand...

if you want to spend the extra $50 go for it but your gains are only going to be marginal at best and not worth $50.
 
I agree I got a 7900gs and it is just great. You really will not see that much of a gain, so do not worry about spending more. SLI will be a possibility too, so by the time you want a better card you can throw another one in.
 
Still go for the highest you can afford. The CPU isn't a major deal, in 3-months or so you'll probably be finding higher s939 for dirt cheap, unless you'll be upgrading your GPU again then.
 
I don't typically purchase video cards on 3 months cycles...as you can probably tell by looking at the card I'm upgrading FROM.

With that said, I'd like the thing to run the newest titles at 1600x1200, preferably with at or near max detail. Generation of games I'm wanting to support: FEAR, NWN2, etc

OC'd 7900 GS sounds like the recommendation...does it have the horsepower?

I have a Dell 1705 with a 7900 GS in it, and it struggles at times to run at it's native resolution (1920x1200) with the top end games. NWN2 really had trouble, and FEAR did just okay. I'd like to ensure I'm not investing $200 in mediocrity...
 
You could try and pick up a 7800GTX or 7900GTX from the for sale/trade section from someone who's upgrading.
That's what I did, and I'm more than satisfied.
 
Heres my story.

I have been using an A8V Deluxe, with a 3000+ Venice (1.8ghz A64) for the better part of the past year.

Its of course AGP, So I invested in a X850XT PE a year ago and yes that sucks, Owning that card now. Heh. it was like 600$.

Anyways,
Being limited by the AGP rig, and also being limited in the sense that my AGP card, The one I just mentioned above, bit the bucket after installing a new Enermax Galaxy PSU (Not a good sign, perhaps, but I was fooling around with odd memory timings...)

so, I got a big paycheck from work and I found it too tempting, Indeed, Much too tempting....

I went out and purchased an ATI Crossfire 3200 based S939 A8R32-MVP,
Threw my old venice on it, as well as my corsair 2-2-2-5 XMS TCCD ram on it. Acheived a slightly better overclock, and purchased a 8800GTX.

I don't care about AM2, Because AMD will release a way better socket very soon, As we all know. Especially with ATI under their belt. AM2 is a beta as far as I'm concerned.

my 2.9ghz overclocked venice, which has been running on stock cooling its entire life, Still works amazing. I'm only now, starting to see its limitations. In windows its perfect, In games its perfect. But it does limit my 8800gtx a bit.

However, I play Morrowind Oblivion, 16XQaa max settings /w HDR smoothly, So that says something...

I'm going to add the most highend flagship 939 chip to my rig within a few months, when the demand for the chip is deminished and they are trying to get rid of them. Maybe evensooner.

I will miss my 3000+ Venice, Ya'll remember that chip? Its a friggen genius.

But yes thats my story and although it seems illogical upgrading from a 939 to a 939 based board, This A8R32-Mvp is SO much faster when it comes to ethernet tasks, Multitasks, as well as SATA tasks especially. Its flat out better, at least by 35% than my previous system, thats ignorin the amazing video card.
 
Llathos said:
A64 Willy 2500+ overclocked to a 3500+
1 GB DDR OCZ @ 250Mhz

I'm currently running on an x800 Pro, which obviously has been dated...badly.

So, the question is...keeping the above hardware in place, what's the maximum benefit I'd see in a card upgrade? I'd wager that going to something like an 8800 would be wasteful since I could easily end up CPU bottlenecked. So the question is, how far down the chain is the peak performance gain on a video card given the above restrictions? I've been out of the video card scene for awhile so I'm a bit lost as to which cards I should be checking out...

Anyone got any recommendations?

Also, I'd like to keep the cost in the area of $250 or less.
Click to expand...

Are you sure your on a PCI-E board? I have never heard of an athlon 64 2500+ and know there has never been one for S939 or AM2. Unless its a typo i would make sure you can even get a PCI-E card.
 
Hey all.
Look, I don't want to upgrade my mobo/cpu til the middle of 2007. I figure by then the high end will be quad core or even quad core and dual cpu mobos.
But until then I will be using a nvidia 8800gtx......along with my amd 4000+ cpu. And thats the one that is not dual core.
That, and 2 gigs of ram.....would that hold me til the middle of 2007 or will it really be a bottleneck that will be intolerable?? :confused:
 
pfunkman said:
Are you sure your on a PCI-E board? I have never heard of an athlon 64 2500+ and know there has never been one for S939 or AM2. Unless its a typo i would make sure you can even get a PCI-E card.
Click to expand...

Ack, I got my rigs confused. You are absolutely correct...I'm running an A64 Venice 3200+ on an MSI K8N Neo4 939 board.

Since I'm using a PCI-e board now, I'm pretty sure I can upgrade to one ;-)
 
What I meant was:

Your motherboard is fine. Your CPU is the bottleneck. Get a nice high end video card now, EVEN IF your CPU is a bottleneck. In the near future, demand for s939 chips will drop, meaning they'll get cheaper. Then you can grab a better CPU for cheap and the card will no longer be bottlenecked. This is actually what I'm planning to do; when AM2 becomes more prevelant, 4000+ and higher chip prices will come down.
 
Llathos said:
NWN2 really had trouble, and FEAR did just okay.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'd be upgrading with NWN2 in mind, the reason being is that it is having problems with just about *every* system configuration. I have a 6800 GT in my desktop and it's a slideshow no matter what I turn off/on. On my laptop, which has a 512 MB 7900 GTX, it's pretty much the same story, though I might get 5 or so frames more. NWN2 is in heavy-duty need of being a) finished and b) optimized.

I would venture to say that even k|ngp|n would have difficulty running NWN2 acceptably in it's current state. Beta patch 1.3 is better, and the camera can be tweaked so that it isn't so bad anymore. It still needs work, though. It's a real shame, too. Like many other people, I was looking forward to NWN2. The evil known as Atari strikes again.

With that said, the desktop version of the 7900 is faster than the go version, and my laptop runs everything else very well. For my desktop, I'm waiting for the 8800GTS prices to go down, though it's probably a bit more than I currently need. I want the 8800 because the image quality is noticeably better to me (texture shimmering annoys me). For you, this might not be such a big deal. A lot of people recommend the 1950pros, and for $250, they seem like a good deal. If the 8800's don't go down in price soon, I may end up with one of those, myself.
 
General Crespin said:
Atari didn't publish KotOR 2.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected!

Obsidian. KotOR2:TSL was unfinished and bugged, guess how NWN2 got released.

Ruining excellent games left and right. They suck.

Though Atari isn't exactly blameless in the NWN2 disappointment either.

Someone's QA department okay'd it for release, and for this to make it out of the door, fingers can easily be pointed at both Obsidian and Atari.
 
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